Saturday, May 5, 2012

STEVE BENEN CHRONICLES THE BLATANT FALSEHOODS OF ROMNEY THE LIAR

If anyone is doing yeoman's work in exposing Willard's flood of lying BS, it's Steve Benen at The Maddow Blog. Every week he chronicles more lies from Mittens the Sociopath. This week alone, he has, among other things, the following:

1. In a speech in Ohio, Romney referred to the Bush/Cheney era as "before the recession."

The recession began in late 2007, more than a year before President Obama's inauguration. The economy crashed in September 2008, four months before Obama took office. Someone who claims an expertise in economic policy probably ought to know that.

2. In the same speech, Romney summarized his message to young people: "[I]t's so critical, in my view, for you to consider what's in the best interest of not just yourself, but of America, over the coming century, and it is to stop the excessive overspending."

Annual domestic spending is already on track to become the smallest share of the economy since Dwight Eisenhower's administration.

3. Romney acknowledged that President "inherited" the recession, but added that Obama "didn't make it better."

That's plainly false.

4. In the same speech, Romney said once "Obamacare" is implemented, "government at all levels" will "consume" 50% of the American economy.

David Corn explains today that this is Romney's arguably "biggest fib," which falls "somewhere between 'ridiculous' and 'stupid.'"

5. Also from that speech, Romney said Obama's record includes "the first trillion deficit in history."

That's a blatant lie -- the day Obama was inaugurated, there was a $1.3 trillion deficit Bush had left for him to clean up.

There's MUCH more, and Benen does this EVERY WEEK. Benen is fighting for truth against the most shameless liar in modern political history. Check him out--and let people know the kind of mendacious lowlife we're really up against.

You must get a lot of traffic as the top hit for "romney liar"... Not sure how much I'll read, but maybe you can point me at the right place for a topology of lying? Maybe you could apply something like that to your posts?

As my own topology of lies would apply to Romney, his Class 0 lies of self-contradiction seem to dominate, but those are the simple ones. You don't even have to check anything to know that one side is a lie (though it is logically possible for BOTH sides to be false, and I think Romney actually manages that some of the time).

Class 1 lies involve counterfactual staements, and sometimes you have to check the facts--but even a fool can do that. In Romney's case, the main problem is that he isn't stupid enough (like Dubya) to pretend he doesn't know the facts.

The Class 2 lies involve partial truths, and Romney is rather an expert in that category. The top example that leaps to my mind is the doctored quote of President Obama quoting Senator McCain about the economy.

The Class 3 lies include credibility-based lies. I'm not sure if Romney can tell such a lie, because I have trouble imagining that anyone could give him that much credibility... There are some complicated wrinkles in this group, however. For example, what about flagrant lies from a SuperPAC called something like "Americans for Mom and Apple Pie"?

Just for the honesty and integrity flaws, Romney should be at least 30% down in the polls. Then again, look at Dubya's (s)elections... It says something about America, and I think it's something rather sad.